But before the action gets underway, we broke down the tournament so far, and the field of eight by the numbers:

5 – Number of national seeds left. This is the best performance by the national seeds since 2011, when six of the eight reached Omaha. No more than four had made the College World Series since and, more importantly, no national seed has won the tournament since 4-seed South Carolina took home the title that same year. This season, three national seeds (No. 2 North Carolina, No. 5 Texas Tech, and No. 8 Stanford) fell in the regionals, but the five that survived the opening round made it through the Supers intact as well. Will one of them capture the crown in Omaha?

122 — Number of games played so far. Last year saw 138 total games (101 in the regionals, 20 in the Supers, and 14 in the CWS). This year’s regionals had 104 matchups, while the Supers had just 18.

0 – Number of games Oregon State has lost since April 29. The Beavers’ fourth (and most recent) loss came at home against USC in a 7-5 contest. It was sandwiched between two wins against the Trojans, but was just one week after an away loss to UCLA. In total, three of Oregon State’s four losses came in April (the first was against Ohio State on Feb. 24), but the Beavers have rattled off 21 straight wins since that last defeat. Not a bad streak to carry into Omaha.

40-4 — Record of the eight CWS teams in the tournament so far. Last year’s champion, Coastal Carolina won the crown with three losses to its name, one in each round of the tournament. Florida’s on pace to match that loss total, as the Gators were the only team to drop a game in the Regionals in Supers. Florida State lost one game in Regionals before sweeping Sam Houston State, and Cal State Fullerton went perfect in its regional, then dropped Game 1 against Long Beach State.

3 – Teams from the SEC, the most of any conference. Eight SEC teams entered the tournament's field of 64, one more than the runner-up. Kentucky, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Auburn may have lost, but Florida, LSU, and Texas A&M are still in the hunt. That runner-up, with seven teams in the tournament, was the ACC. Five of its representatives bowed out early, but Louisville and Florida State were able to punch their tickets to Omaha. No other conference has more than one team left in the College World Series.

Conference

Teams

SEC

3 — Florida, Texas A&M, LSU

ACC

2 — Louisville, Florida State

Pac-12

1 — Oregon State

Big 12

1 — TCU

Big West

1 — Cal State Fullerton

12 – Combined national titles owned by the group of eight. LSU leads the way with six, Cal State Fullerton has four of its own, and Oregon State holds the last two.

22 — Number of CWS appearances by Florida State, the most of the field. The Seminoles have never managed to win a title, and haven’t been to Omaha since 2012, but they're out for redemption this year. After losing their opening game of the tournament to Tennessee Tech, Florida State has outsocred its opponents 45-16 . Louisville is the newbie of the group, this being just the fourth ever CWS appearance for the Cardinals, but the 7-seed isn't playing like it. Louisville is perfect through five games of the tournament so far.

Team

CWS Appearance

Last Appearance

Titles

Oregon State

6th

2013

2

Florida

11th

2016

0

LSU

18th

2015

6

TCU

5th

2016

0

Louisville

4th

2014

0

Cal State Fullerton

18th

2015

4

Florida State

22nd

2012

0

Texas A&M

6th

2011

0

.279 — Average batting average of all teams. Oregon State’s .296 average is the highest of the group, and even it is only the 39th best in the country. Texas A&M’s .275 puts them at the No. 130, and Florida’s .262 give the Gators the 205th best average… of 293 teams. It might be safe to say that batting average is not the most critical part of a team’s postseason success.

6.48 — Average runs scored per game. That happens to be the exact same average as the field of 64 (actually, it’s 0.001 runs per game higher, but we feel confident in calling that negligible). Florida State heads the group, scoring 7.39 times each game (the Seminoles put up 19 to close out Sam Houston State in the Supers). Cal State Fullerton brings up the rear with 5.48 runs per game, but the Titans managed to score 13 in their tournament opener, and 12 in Game 2 of their Super Regional matchup. They only scored 12 or more in six of their 55 regular season games.

3.31 — Average ERA of all teams. Just a bit better than the field of 64’s 3.99 ERA entering the tournament. Oregon State’s 1.80 ERA is almost a full run better than the second best in the nation, Illinois-Chicago (which failed to make the tournament), with 2.65. Louisville sits at third in the country with a 2.85 average, and no other CWS team cracked the top 10. TCU’s 3.99 was the highest of the group, and is ranked No. 63 in the nation this season.

74.5 — Average winning percentage of all eight teams. Entering the tournament, teams in the field of 64 had won 65 percent of their games. Unsurprisingly, the eight that made it through to Omaha fared a little better this season. Oregon State leads the CWS pack, havnig won a staggering 93.1 percent of its games (54-4 record), while the Beavers’ first-game opponent — Cal State Fullerton — is on the other end of the spectrum with a 63.9 winning percentage (39-22 record). The Titans are one of three teams in the field of eight with 20 or more losses (Texas A&M and Florida State have 21 each).

Team

BA

Runs per game

ERA

Wins

Losses

Winning percentage

Oregon State

.296

6.07

1.80

54

4

93.10%

Louisville

.289

7.29

2.85

52

10

83.87%

Texas A&M

.275

6.19

3.42

41

21

66.13%

TCU

.272

6.89

3.99

47

16

74.60%

Cal State Fullerton

.270

5.48

3.57

39

22

63.93%

LSU

.294

7.02

3.54

48

17

73.85%

Florida

.262

5.49

3.55

47

18

72.31%

Florida State

.272

7.39

3.72

45

21

68.18%

Daniel Wilco has worked at the AJC, Sports Illustrated, and SEC Country. His writing has also appeared on SI.com, Men’s Health, and The Cauldron.

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